Coming days will be tumultuous for Chandrababu Naidu

New Delhi, June 06: Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and his family are concerned as new Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has given a green signal to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe cases in the state without prior approval of the state government.

In November last year, Naidu government had withdrawn the general consent given to the members of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE). The CBI is a part of the DSPE.

The general consent was routinely given by the State governments for periods ranging from six months to one year to the CBI and all agencies under the DSPE Act, 1946.

Naidu took the decision after his relations with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became sour and with the Congress president Rahul Gandhi sweet.

The government order was issued on November 8 - a week after Naidu met Rahul Gandhi and joined hands against the Modi government.

Naidu had alleged that Modi government was using central agencies to harass political opponents.

However, Jagan had made it a political issue during campaigning for the Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha elections by saying that Naidu took this decision to prevent the CBI from probing allegations of corruption against him and those in his government.

Allegations against Naidu

When Naidu was the Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh in 2013 then the Andhra Pradesh High Court had ordered a preliminary probe by the CBI against Chandrababu Naidu, wife Bhuvaneshari and their son Nara Lokesh for allegedly amassing illegal wealth.

A retired judge judge K Sravan Kumar filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Andhra Pradesh High Court seeking CBI probe against Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh for alleged corruption. It alleged that the father-son duo was involved in a case of corruption worth Rs 21,000 crores by signing fake MoUs with the companies in the name of investments.

A complaint filed by the YSR Congress Party is pending with the CBI that alleges Nara Lokesh grabbed around 80 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh.

According to a political observer, the coming days will be tumultuous for Naidu and family.

"Nobody is clean in politics but the ones who are in power always have an upper hand. Obviously hands of Naidu aren't clean and will pay political price. Many irregularities during his regime didn't make headlines as he is very good at using media for image building. Not only state media, but he had managed even some of the famous national media houses. Now, he will face the music," said the observer.

Various organisations like National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCEAR), a prestigious think-tank based out of New Delhi, Centre for Media Studies (CMS), another prestigious think-tank from the national capital and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had flagged corruption during Naidu rule.

Naidu is also accused of promoting real estate racket in the garb of developing Amaravati, new capital of Andhra Pradesh.

In 2018, renowned water conservationist Rajendra Singh termed Amaravati "a tragedy in the making". He said that the dictatorial attitude of then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu with regard to capital construction is not only in violation of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directives, but also would spell doom to the entire State.